Scott Brown helps Brockton region take a sharp right turn with Senate win

Staff reports

Wednesday

Jan 20, 2010 at 12:01 AMJan 20, 2010 at 8:16 PM

Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in the U.S. Senate race on Tuesday, winning by 5 points statewide and taking all local communities except for Brockton and Randolph.

Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in the U.S. Senate race on Tuesday, winning by 5 points statewide and taking all local communities except for Brockton and Randolph.

Brown, a state senator from Wrentham, will fill the unexpired term of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who died in August after serving for 47 years. Brown will face re-election in 2012.

Emboldened by Brown’s come-from-behind victory over a veteran Democrat in a left-leaning state, potential GOP candidates are expected to throw their own political hats into the ring in upcoming state representative and Senate races.

“I think you’re going to see (Republican) inroads in 2010,” Bill Nickerson, chairman of the Raynham Republican Town Committee, said from the Brown celebration in Boston.

“I’m talking to people tonight who are talking about running who were on the fence,” he said. “Some that I do know are going to make excellent candidates.”

Coakley won in Brockton and in Randolph. Among her supporters was Greny Bartelus, 25, of Brockton, who said, “I would like to have a Democrat in the Senate so we can pass the health care reform for the whole country.”

But voters in every other community across the region backed Brown — and by a landslide in some towns.

Brown garnered 72 percent of the vote in West Bridgewater, 71 percent in Lakeville and Hanover, and 70 percent in Middleboro and East Bridgewater.

“I liked Scott Brown’s views. I liked his ads,” Ruth Miles, 52, of West Bridgewater, said as she voted on Tuesday. “He seemed like he was going to promise a lot. I hope he can deliver.”

Many local Brown supporters were unhappy with President Barack Obama’s health care plan — and not all of them were Republicans.

“The health benefits plan was a great idea, but it needed more time to be worked out instead of shoved down our throats,” said Dean Desley, 53, of Raynham, a Democrat.

Marion Bois, 76, of Whitman, another Brown supporter, also opposed Obama’s health care plan and objected to what she viewed as negative ads from the Coakley campaign.

“I got three fliers in the mail, they were all negative and it made me very angry,” Bois said.

But there were some in the towns who liked what they said Coakley would bring to the U.S. Senate.

“I thought she did a really good job as the attorney general and I think she’ll do a really good job as a U.S. senator,” Jen Cleary, 38, of Whitman, said as she cast her ballot. “I related to her more and thought her stance on the issues was more in line with what I was thinking than Scott Brown.”

In Abington, Samantha Merritt, 32 , held a Coakley sign outside the polls.

“I want Ted Kennedy’s seat to be occupied by someone who will continue his life’s work of health care,” said Merritt. “A lot of my friends have bare-bones health care or no health care and they are struggling.”

But overall, the majority of local voters colored their ballots Brown. In Easton, for example, Brown won by a big margin, with 64-36 percent of the vote; 65 percent of voters there cast ballots.

Jim Breton, chairman of the Democratic Town Committee in Easton, said Tuesday night that Coakley’s loss in his town — and in the state — was a statement by voters on the economy and health care.

“Martha Coakley has done terrific things for Massachusetts as both district attorney and attorney general,” said Breton. “It is my hope that Scott Brown as U.S. senator will not fall in line with the obstructionism that many Republican senators have embraced as policy.”

Elaine Dahlgren, a member of the Easton Republican Town Committee, said her organization worked hard during the weekend, holding Brown signs and running a telephone bank.

“You have to have balance” in Massachusetts politics, “and we don’t have any kind of balance,” said Dahlgren. “I’ve met Scott Brown three or four times. He tells it like it is. He’s a breath of fresh air.”